Because You Care
by InfiniteAddiction
Summary: Sasuke has returned to the village and everything is seemingly back to normal. That is, until Naruto brings Sakura's disappearance to Sasuke's attention. For Mature audiences only. Slight Rape scene. You have been warned.


(A/N: Hey guys! This will be my very first story, so I'm sorry if I have some issues with formatting. I'll fix it if I see anything wrong with it immediately. Spell Check is my friend, so I shouldn't have any spelling issues. Here goes nothing!)

**Introduction:**

You wouldn't have guessed it if you looked at them now, but Team 7 was just re-formed about three weeks ago. Sasuke came back to the village in bad shape, cuts and bruises taking up most of his visibly body. In fact, he collapsed as soon as he reached the village gate, but luckily Kakashi sensed his presence and caught him as he fell. Not very long after, Sasuke awoke to find himself in a hospital bed, surrounded by three people who looked as if they were ready to murder him and hug him at the same time.

Those three people were his former teammates, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and the man who carried him back into the village, Kakashi Hatake. They weren't very happy with Sasuke taking so long to return to the village, and they were especially displeased with his murder of Danzo. After some research and some convincing from Sasuke, the group realized that Danzo orchestrated the Uchiha Massacre, and Sasuke had every right to take revenge. This didn't mean he wasn't going to get punished for his actions, but it decreased the severity of that punishment.

A few weeks later, everything was seemingly back to normal. Sasuke's punishment of no missions above D-Rank was alleviated as the village needed more powerful ninja to take up jobs, and his community service hours were completely finished. Team 7 was officially back together and they were considered the strongest team amongst their peers, and rightfully so. Naruto Uzumaki was the village hero who saved the village from Pain almost single-handedly, and after some tough sparring everyone realized that Sasuke's power rivaled or even bested that of Naruto's. Missions taken on by the dominant team were completed in a swift and thorough fashion, leaving all their customers content.

The one thing that was different for Sasuke was visibly noticeable. He was lacking in the amount of fan-girls compared to what he once had. Ino had given up hope on him after a few attempts at asking him out, and Sakura was completely out of the discussion in terms of being a fan-girl. Of course, there were the few women that would fawn over him for his good looks and defined body, although they were nothing more than flies on a windshield in Sasuke's eyes. Sakura seemingly wanting a strictly platonic relationship with Sasuke annoyed him for some reason, although he couldn't piece together why. Until today.

**Sasuke P.O.V:**

"_Wandering the streets is boring. I really should be out training." _Sasuke thought, unaware of the reason the dobe (Naruto) called for him to meet up in front of Ichiraku's Ramen Shop. Sasuke had reached the ramen shop within minutes of word reaching him that Naruto wanted to meet there, and Naruto wasn't there after five minutes of waiting.

_If this idiot isn't here in two minutes I'm leaving._

As if on cue, Naruto jumped down in front of the ramen shop, garnering the attention of a bored looking Uchiha.

"What do you want dobe?" Sasuke asked, his annoyance clearly making its way into his voice.

"It's Sakura. She's gone missing!" Naruto explained in a panic.

That got Sasuke's attention. Immediately Sasuke's bored expression turned into a serious one as he asked "When was the last time you saw her?".

"Yesterday!" he answered, clearly still in a panic.

Sasuke facepalmed and returned to his previous annoyed, bored state. "Then how do you know she's missing?"

"Today is the anniversary of her parent's death. We always go out to her grave together because she wants somebody with her when she goes." he answered solemnly.

"_Her parent's death? When did her parents die?" _Sasuke wondered. He contorted his face as to beckon Naruto to explain.

Naruto sighed and sat down on a stool in Ichiraku's.

"Two years ago, after you left, her parents went out on an A-Ranked mission. They never came back. It was revealed that the A-Ranked mission was an S-Class in disguise. Granny Tsunade didn't do that intentionally; it just turned out that way after the vigilante they went after turned out to be an international criminal. After learning what he did to Sakura's parents, I hunted the man down myself. I was barely able to defeat him. He was just so strong." Naruto explained, suddenly interested in the rocks on the ground. "I was stupid. I shouldn't have hunted him, let alone going in without backup, but that's not important now. I went to her house and couldn't find a trace of her. I need your help." he finished.

"…I'll go find her. Keep searching on your own, but I'll probably find her before you do." Sasuke decided.

"Thanks Teme, I owe you one." Naruto said.

"You owe me nothing; this is a teammate we're talking about. We need to find her." Sasuke replied.

Naruto simply smiled at how caring Sasuke had become since he returned, although if you asked Sasuke he would have said she was a medic and a necessary part of the team, but Naruto knew better. Sasuke was his best friend, and he could read him like an open book.

A few minutes later Sasuke was at Sakura's doorstep, looking for any trace or clue to where she would have gone. Upon searching her house and finding nothing, he decided to follow the path to the cemetery, where Sakura's parents should be buried.

"_This isn't funny Sakura. You need to turn up somewhere, and if I find out you're completely okay I'll beat the dobe for scaring me." he thought. _

"_Scaring me? Since when did I become so concerned with Sakura's well-being?"_

Sasuke brushed off the thoughts he was having and activated his Sharingan. Maybe analyzing the environment with it would help somehow.

Only a few moments later Sasuke heard screaming that he instantly recognized as Sakura's. He looked around for a place where she could be kept hostage and found a lazily hidden entrance to a basement.

Kusangi in hand, Sasuke slowly entered the basement, only to become enraged at the sight before him.

**Sakura P.O.V:**

"_How did I get myself into this?" _Sakura thought.

Only half an hour ago she was on her way to meet Naruto so they could visit her parent's grave, and now her she was, restrained with half her clothing ripped off.

**30 Minutes Prior: **

"Thanks for the flowers Ino" Sakura said graciously, truly happy for the gift her best friend gave her.

"No problem, tell Naruto I said 'hi'" she replied.

"_She's been really interested in Naruto lately, I wonder if there's something going on between them. If there is, Hinata might not be too happy." _Sakura thought, smiling despite it being the anniversary of her parent's deaths.

Suddenly being jarred out of her thoughts, a kunai flew past her, effectively putting a gash in her now bloody arm.

"Ow! Whoever you are, come out and face me! You're going to regret throwing that kunai!" she yelled, furious at her attacker, and more so at herself for allowing herself to be caught off guard.

"Hello, beautiful." a particularly creepy man answered as he stepped out of the shadows. "How about we have a little fun?"

"Get away from me!" Sakura said as he inched closer. He didn't comply, and Sakura decided it was high time for a little payback. "Alright, you asked for it!" she yelled as she lunged into the air, gathering chakra in her fist. Her first punched missed as he was faster than he looked, and since it was a narrow hallway Sakura didn't want to cause any property damage, limiting her ability to attack.

"What? Don't want to attack me with your full force?" the disgusting creep asked. Upon asking his question he lunged forward, taking his opportunity to attack.

Sakura was by no means weak, so she dodged the inexperienced man rather easily, but she was unaware that he had a plan; and she fell for it. Hard.

A pellet of gas was released into the air from above, and soon Sakura became light-headed, falling to her knees. She mentally scolded herself for being allowing herself to be defeated so easily, and with that last thought she was out like a light.

**Back to Sakura P.O.V:**

Sakura's hands and legs were tied with chains, which were able to contain her even with her monstrous strength. Her shirt was somewhere on the floor as the creep from before had his intentions clearly known. He was going to rape her.

Sakura struggled with all her might; however it was in vain as whatever these chains were made out of were too much for her to break. It may have been because of the sedative that was cast upon her, but she felt weak. So weak that she eventually stopped resisting and accepted her fate. Soon she was reduced to begging, but the attacker wasn't yielding. He soon cut her bra off, and cupped one breast with his filthy hands.

"Oh my beautiful cherry blossom, these are a perfect fit for my hands" he observed.

"Stop…please." Sakura begged, feeling violated in the worst possible way.

"But that fun is just getting started babe." he protested, closing the gap between his mouth and her breast.

Sakura screamed in protest, but nothing would help. She found the strength to kick and fight, but again, nothing helped.

"These walls are sound proof gorgeous," the rapist said in between licks of her breasts "no one will hear you."

"You're fucking sick! Once I get out of these chains you'll be dead!" Sakura threatened, feeling the rage boil up inside of her.

"You won't get out, but don't fret. I'll feed you," he started, fondling both breasts as he spoke "bathe you" he continued, using a lick of his tongue on her nipple as emphasis "and love you, every, single, day.

Sakura was crying profusely now, fearing the worst. She knew that no one was rescuing her, and she was going to lose her virginity to some random creep that she let overpower her.

"_If I wasn't so weak this wouldn't have happened. I knew I was useless..." _she thought, wallowing in her own self-pity

"Why don't we get on to the main event". As he spoke he slowly removed her skirt and shorts, leaving only her panties between him and her nether regions. He slowly circled around to her ass and cupped it. "Such a gorgeous rump you have, I can't believe you would hide it from the world with this skirt _and_ a pair of shorts." he complained.

"STOP! I'll do anything, please..just stop." she begged again.

"But you're already doing what I want! Now, let's see your most sacred parts.." he said, beginning to slowly drop her panties.

Those were the last words he said, as the next sound was his head colliding with the stone wall, five feet behind him.

**Sasuke P.O.V:**

The sight before him was disgusting. Sakura was half naked and chained up, with some asshole feeling all over her body. Some prick was raping his teammate. As he was registering what was happening the rapist was slowly removing Sakura's panties. He instantly, with lightning speed, jumped into action. He wasn't going to allow this to go any further.

The next sound heard in the room was horrendous. The rapist's skull collided with the stone wall behind him, with Sasuke standing over him, one hand still on his head. You could hear the crack echoing through the room and Sasuke's rage was practically emanating from him.

"Sasuke!" Sakura proclaimed, astounded.

He paid no attention to his teammate as he started barraging the sick man below him with punches. One after another, the physical sound of bones breaking was heard. The rapist cried for mercy, but Sasuke was never one to oblige to those cries anyways. For what seemed like hours, but was really only seconds, Sasuke was beating the man that dared to touch his teammate.

"You." he began, punctuating his sentence with punches, "sick." This time it was a punch to the jaw. "fuck." The last one being a straight punch to the face.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried, hoping to get the attention of her teammate.

Sasuke barely heard the call over the sound of his punches, but chose to not ignore her this time. Before answering her he quickly cut the chains restraining her and removed his shirt. He handed Sakura the shirt and she put it on quickly, not wanting to expose herself to Sasuke any further. He was much taller than her, so his shirt was long enough to reach just below the bottom of her butt.

Sasuke assumed this was all she needed and walked back towards the unconscious body of the disgusting rapist lying on the floor.

"Don't..please." Sakura whispered.

Sasuke turned 180 degrees and replied with anger still in his voice. "This sick excuse for a human being raped you Sakura! He was about to take your virginity for christ's sake! WHY DOES HE DESERVE TO LIVE?

"He doesn't," Sakura answered truthfully, "but don't be charged with murder for my sake. Bring him to Tsunade and force him to live the rest of his life in prison. It'll be a worse punishment than death."

"I beg to differ." was Sasuke's response, as he turned around to finish the job he started.

"Sasuke…please." Sakura was on the verge of tears at this point and Sasuke was never good at saying no to her. Especially when she was sad.

"….fine.". In an instant Sasuke picked up the crippled body of a disgusting human being and was gone with a flash.

Not a second later he was in Tsunade's office.

"Hey brat, I don't know what you did to this guy, but you better explain. You're in hot water as it is." Tsunade ordered.

"He raped Sakura. I was going to kill him with my own two hands, but she said prison would be a better punishment. I'm going back to Sakura. If you want to kill him I'm not stopping you, it can be between us. I know you view Sakura as a daughter, so do as you please. This worthless human being doesn't deserve to live anyways." Sasuke explained. "I'm going back to Sakura. She needs me right now." And with another flash Sasuke was gone.

Arriving back at the location that Sakura was raped, Sasuke found Sakura lying on the floor, clutching her shoulders, bawling her eyes out. Sasuke picked her up bridal style and flashed them both into the bedroom of Sakura's house.

The next few minutes were spent on Sakura's bed, with Sasuke comforting Sakura and Sakura crying into Sasuke's chest. The sounds of sobbing and breathing were not broken for a while, as Sasuke didn't know what to say at this point. The sounds were eventually broken by Sakura.

"I'm so weak," she whispered in between sobs, "if I could have defeated that guy none of this would have happened, and you wouldn't have had to save me like you guys always do."

"None of this was your fault. No one could have expected a bastard like him to be lurking the streets like this. This village is supposed to be our home, and our home is supposed to be safe. If you were expecting it you could have crushed a weakling like him. Don't doubt yourself. This wasn't your fault." Sasuke chided her for thinking that way. That speech probably more words than he had uttered this whole week, as Sasuke wasn't one to talk a lot. He rarely used his words, but right now it felt necessary.

"_On her parent's deaths anniversary. This is fucked up. I should have killed that asshole when I had the chance." _Sasuke thought.

After her sobbing calmed down to only an occasional howl, Sasuke decided it was time to speak up again.

"I can't tell you I know how being taken advantage of like that felt, but I can tell you that I know how much this day means to you. Losing your parents is something I wouldn't wish upon anyone except for my worst enemies. It physically hurts. I'm so sorry that that your family is gone, Sakura." Sasuke said, pouring his emotions into his words.

"You don't know how it feels, Sasuke." Sasuke was almost thrown into a fit of rage. His entire clan was killed and he didn't know how losing someone felt?

"You had it much worse. I'm here saddened over the fact that my parents died, but your whole clan was murdered. You had that genocide replayed in your head over and over again. I'm sorry that I'm being such a wimp." Sakura apologized, once again berating herself.

"Losing family is losing family, Sakura. The fact of the matter is they're never coming back. I accepted that a long time ago, their death is what made me who I am today. I don't grieve over them anymore, I pay my respects and thank them for what time we had together."

"Thank you, Sasuke, for everything. If you hadn't shown up…" she trailed off.

"Let's not focus on the 'what ifs' Sakura. What happened happened. I wish I could've gotten there sooner." Sasuke replied.

A comfortable silence came over them as Sakura stayed in Sasuke's chest until she calmed down entirely. After the silence became unbearable Sasuke decided something.

"I think I should go, Sakura." Sasuke decided, "It's getting late, and you need your rest. I have to tell Naruto that you're okay. There's not a doubt in my mind that he's still out there looking for you."

"Please…stay." Sakura begged, looking up at him with pleading eyes.

"I shouldn't…" Sasuke protested. She was really vulnerable right now, Sasuke didn't want her to do anything she would regret.

"I know what you're thinking, and I'm okay now, I just need someone to stay here with me. Please.." she asked again.

Sasuke nodded wordlessly and flipped over the covers, beckoning her to get under them. She complied and soon they were both covered under the warmth of the sheets, with the two shinobi facing each other.

Sasuke soon closed his eyes and readied himself for sleep, until he heard Sakura speak a few minutes later.

"Sasuke, are you still awake?" she asked.

He stayed quiet. While he wondered what she wanted to say, he would rather hear it in the morning, when she was in her right of mind.

"I want you to know, even though I don't show it, I still love you." she confessed, as she placed a light kiss on the corner of his lips. "You'd probably kill me for that if you were awake." she smiled.

That caught him off guard. He felt himself stiffen up but played it off well with a deep breath and a slight snore. Sakura giggled, and he knew she would let him know tomorrow morning that he snored, but that wasn't important.

"_Why am I doing this? If anyone so much as asked me to stay the night with them I would immediately turn them down, but even when she tells me she loves me I stay. Why?" _Sasuke thought.

"_It's because you care." _

**_~Fin~_**

Woo! First fanfic over and done with! I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I got to use all the lines that I thought of before I started this, and it was pretty lengthy for my first fic :D. Anyways, I'm probably talking to myself, and an M rated story as my first probably wasn't my best idea, but I digress. Not all of my stories will be M rated. Most will be T as I have no idea how to write lemons, and even this short rape scene felt weird to write. Probably because it was rape. Rate and Review, tell me how I can do better!


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